Monday, September 11, 2017

Thankfully, the New York Times continue to give Charles Blow a platform.

His latest essay sums up how many Americans feel about the president and living through the dark days of trump.

"You could stay in hell for a little while if you knew that you were going to get out.

My mother always told me that when I was going through something tough and dispiriting. It was her way of saying that trouble doesn’t last forever, that even in your darkest place, hold fast to the hope and the light, that though today you are in the valley, tomorrow you shall scale the peak.

Well, Mama, this is hell. Indeed, Donald Trump’s America is the Ninth Circle.

And while I know that a president is limited to two terms, and I highly doubt that Trump

could be re-elected to a second term and think that Robert Mueller’s investigation may curtail the first, I am still struggling to maintain optimism and perseverance.

I don’t think that this is even a matter of fatigue, but rather of the capacity of rage and the length of mourning. Hopelessness is a very human response when the feeling of persecution intersects with the feeling of powerlessness.

Sure, the vast majority of America that doesn’t agree with Trump isn’t completely powerless. People across the country are registering to not only vote but also to run for office. They are pressuring their legislators. They are linking arms in solidarity and raising their voices in protest. They are saying that this administration and this man are abominations and they will not sit silently by, thereby giving passive approval or grudging acceptance.

I see these people. I applaud these people. I try my best to encourage these people. But I also know that the power of the resistance is limited, and the best way to achieve real change and a real reversal of the damage that’s been done won’t come until the polls open in the next round of elections. The real change will come when those who felt compelled to stand on principle and not participate in an election in which they felt they were being forced to choose between “the lesser of two evils” realize the staggering magnitude of the gap between those “two evils.”

By the way, the lesser-of-two-evils argument is poppycock. The choice people faced in November was the difference between dim light and absolute darkness. There really was no comparison. The false parity was a media concoction and a Russian propaganda weapon.

Also, people have to stop thinking that because they see some corruption in the system, they can live outside that system by not participating in it in any way, including electorally. No, every minute of every day you are in the system; the safety or menace you feel is the system. The streets you drive on are part of the system. The deductions from your paycheck are part of the system. By not voting you don’t buck the system, but succumb to it; you don’t show your strength, but expose your weakness.

Furthermore, we have to deal with racialized voter disenfranchisement. Many people didn’t vote because they couldn’t. The systematic conservative attack, state by state, on voting access is a national scandal that receives far less attention than it deserves.

But I have faith that more Americans will overcome the barriers to participation that have been erected to nullify their votes.

I have faith that America is learning a lesson about the folly of throwing a monkey wrench into the machine in an attempt to break it.

I have faith that America has learned that elections have consequences and that the power of the presidency in the hands of a pariah is an awesomely dangerous thing.

I have faith that America has learned that there are not easy remedies to decisions made behind a curtain and in a fit of pique.

But I will not know if that faith is well placed until I know the results of the next election.

Until then, it is hard to witness successive hurricanes wreak havoc on Americans and realize that the science behind recognizing the global warming that contributes to more extreme weather events is not believed by America’s ruling party.

It is hard to witness a president so obsessed with the obliteration of the legacy of his predecessor that he is attempting to undo that legacy with every stroke of his pen.

It is hard to witness a bully attack traditionally marginalized communities, one after the other.

It is hard to witness a family of corruption besmirching the presidency, the country and America’s standing in the world.

It is hard to witness the dismantling of basic norms, the dismissal of propriety and the devaluation of truth and honesty.

It is like being injured and having the offender repeatedly pound the wound before it can properly heal." [More]

All this resistance talk is catchy and cute, and it makes for nice tweeting and blog posts among like minded liberals and "trump-haters". At the end of the day, though, it will not get one single person elected if there is not actual civic engagement by these folks.

trump won because his people went out and supported him (that and a little help from his vodka drinking friends), so if the people who hang on Blow's every word believe that it's not possible to spend 8 years in trump "hell", they have another thing coming.

38 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I agree with the basic premise of your argument. Of course action as well as inaction are variables that can be calculated to some degree by the stewards of the system that you describe. Anger and apathy are typically easy to measure. I believe that when one takes a look at the Trump election with disdain, we should also honestly try to understand how Barack Obama got elected. A dear, intelligent, articulate and pure human being. Alas, he was still a black man and this is still the united states of America. My point is that his election was actually the first war cry of the populace. And we waited, and he delivered. He delivered what he could, and the media convinced the population that he hadn't done enough. Middle class pain was making it self known then as we black folks congratulated ourselves. I could write more but I will wait for your response.

I echo your postulation. We did act as if we were in the "promise land". President Obama was a needed act forge majority race to carry on. They had nothing to lose because electing a Black man without a subservient crew present no power for the powerful. He could never push forward any agenda because he had no allies in position. In other words he was a figurehead in a system that will not change if the so-called powerful was so passive.

Most of his legacy will be that he did not change the power structure, only delayed the now present racial animus. I will not count on President Trump being a one termed. There are so many closet white supremacist that Donald will stay afloat with their backing. How did so many pollsters get it. So wrong. This massive, uncountable white closet voters will still control the outcomes of elections in a corrupt voting system..

An example. In North Carolina the politicians that rigged the voting system to ensure they stay in power is the same people that has been tasked to correct the system.. that is like having a bank robber tell the police what is wrong with the bank but suffer no consequences after being caught robbing said bank. Oh yeah, they are also allowed to keep the money.

It is folly to waste resources trying to stop the shenanigans of Trump when he can cancel all punitive outcomes. Let the old dude do his thing. Stop writing about him . He thrives on attention. Maybe he will leave when no one is giving him attention, did not the press learn anything. During the run for office?

Last night the head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian Parliament went on Russian TV and bragged about how the US intelligence services slept through Russia electing the US president. "What kind of intelligence service is that?" he said.

We told you fuckers not to vote for the moron, and now that it has become manifestly clear that he's not going to help anyone, even his cronies, but is still doing the sort of harm we told you he would do to the air, the water, and our standing abroad, now that the 4,000 mile wide example of why we shouldn't have withdrawn from the Paris Accords is fucking up shit from Florida to the great lakes, the great untrumpenizing of the GOP has already begun. Just like the Bush supporters fled from the wreckage of his presidency, put on funny hats and declared themselves "independents" who had never even heard of this Bush fellow that they voted for twice, and called it the TEA party, an accelerated version of the scuttling of the rats has already begun. Doesn't it seem like each successive Republican administration not only gets exponentially worse than the last, but starts to disintegrate sooner in to their term? It may not end up mattering that much, other than the pollution and embarrassment, if Fergus bites out before the Republicans can figure out how the government works, and he's doing an almost admirable job of shitting all over their despicable program, but we can't count on that to last, as the moneymen are getting really antsy about the situation, and making noises about support for candidates in the midterms. That will light a fire under congressional Republican asses that will remove Fergus from their calculations for a couple of years. Which, when you think about it, might be his undoing; nothing drives him crazier than being ignored, especially by the lawmakers he thinks should be working for him.

Your "dim light" backed terrorists against Libya and Syria. Besides all the death and suffering she helped cause, that created the refugee crisis. She cheated Bernie Sanders and Haiti, etc. The politicized FBI and DOJ protected her Espionage Act violations. She traded weapons deals for donations. She represents her corporate donors, not you. Her party cheats progressives to get neocons elected.

One thing you have going in your favor is that the fascist war profiteer sponsored media did keep the support of ISIS quiet. I thought the only way Trump could win was if he talked about the evidence that was already in the public domain at the time, in a debate. One example was the Pentagon report that was declassified under the Freedom of Information Act. It told us the "moderate rebels" were from Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups. But Trump won anyways.

You also got lucky that the DNC fraud civil suit was rejected with a ruling that the DNC is allowed to lie and cheat. But there is plenty of time for the Russian hack lie to explode in your faces. And who knows what will come out of the Awan scandal? Most of the 30 to 60 Democrats who hired the Awans fired them when they came under suspicion, but not DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. They obviously had her blackmailed. Cheer for the lying media to downplay the corruption but elections have a way of igniting conversation, even if the shit doesn't hit the fan before then. The reason why you have a President Trump is because the establishment didn't want you to have a President Sanders. But a lot of Democrats would rather believe fantasies instead of draining their own swamp. They are duped into beating the cold war drums with Russia. More people will realize how corrupt the establishment Democrats are as time passes, but it looks like it will be too late for the next few elections.

She didn't support Nazis or torture, and she knows climate change is real. She wouldn't have hired Pruitt, Sessions, Price, Carson, DeVos, Perry, Mnuchin, Tillerson, Bannon, Miller and the rest of the wrecking crew to bugger the government on our dime, and she knows what the fuck she's doing when dealing with hostile foreign governments. But yeah, your meth-delusions and those world destroying emails.

Baby raped by the mother and the father but Lt. Commander Pussy doesn't say a goddamed thing because he only cares about Jessica Chambers. White people rape fucking babies but this asshole keeps us informed about the only broad he knows. What a dumbass who seems to endorse baby rape. Sick son of a bitch.

Lt. Commander is a no serving pussy said...http://www.wfmj.com/story/15591004/two-parents-charged-with-raping-baby-during-supervised-visit

Baby raped by the mother and the father but Lt. Commander Pussy doesn't say a goddamed thing because he only cares about Jessica Chambers. White people rape fucking babies but this asshole keeps us informed about the only broad he knows. What a dumbass who seems to endorse baby rape. Sick son of a bitch.

2:39 AM

You stinking piece of Black African shit. If Jessica Chambers had been black, and a white man had hooked her on drugs, raped & burned her, murdered her, you boys would be out marching and burning down every thing in sight.

It's been years now....where is the trial, is all I'm asking.

Suck the turds outta my ass.

As afar as assholes go to abuse children, whatever race they may be, I have said, over and damn OVER on this blog, convict them, and I will happily shoot them in the head.

Good people like Charles Blow are immersed in standard politics. Nazi ain't standard politics in America. I warned about JBS, authoritarians & Nazi sympathizers in Chester County, PA Republican Party in 2005, because met some of them, I knew what they were thinking. Call it whatever you like, Nazi is in ascendency in America & other countries. Trump is just the current iteration. The CCRC is part Nazi, people here don't want to believe that. It's not impeach him and done."Donald Trump could be just the first of many Trumps in American politics" https://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism

Jesus I wish Jessica Chambers had been Black because then we wouldn't have to hear about her for the rest if your worthless non serving pussy ass. Now go back to ignoring white men who rape fucking babies as you focus on one case in which the perps were caught. You are one ignorant son of a bitch who is too much of a pussy to serve. Sick mother fucker.

It's been years now....where is the trial, is all I'm asking---------------Is anybody here the fucking prosecutor's office? You are certainly one dumb mother fucker. Maybe you're James or are you white pieces of hillbilly trash all just stupid as fuck?

Here dumb fuck, the trial has been pushed back to October. Now are you fucking happy and will you shut the fuck up? No wonder you didn't serve, you're too stupid to do a simple internet search. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.clarionledger.com/amp/97905392

I don't remember her name, but there was a black girl in West Oakland back in the nineties who was on her way home from work when three white dudes mistook her for a prostitute, forced her into their car, repeatedly raped her, found her ATM card in her wallet while robbing her, and took her to Richmond where they made her withdraw money for them. After they were done with her, they threw her off the dock and shot her while she tried to swim away. One dude got fifteen years, and the other two got five.

Can't even begin to contemplate the hell black males live in. Trust the cops? If you want to take a chance on getting murdered for nothing I suppose you could. Avoiding them/running from therm surely brings out the predator in them. Running makes you look guilty. Standing your ground will likely get you harassed and jailed. Being legally armed probably gets you shot before you get a chance to prove you are legally carrying.

The laws of this land say you don't have to live in fear of cops. Reaslity says different.

I hesitate to be so dismissive of Obama's legacy. I feel that would be a bit premature because by all indications, Obama has no intentions of moving gently into that goodnight. He intends to remain in the public square, quite unlike any of his predecessors. American citizens are beginning to consider health care a right; this is a major awakening that Republicans will find most difficult to unravel. Today's stock market rallies and historic highs are attributable to Obama's fiscal policies as well. Granted, not all of us are in a position to take advantage of those financial gains.

No one person can, or has ever, changed a power structure on their own. I don't believe that it's even possible. Revolutions are started by members of a population that have come to the conclusion that they no longer have anything to lose, and everything to gain. The "revolutionary" is merely the person given the distinct privilege to articulate that message to the world.

I don't subscribe to the theory of "white supremacy". There is no such thing in the material world. White nationalists act out of fear, not an actual deep seeded belief in racial superiority. The larger picture, as I see it, is pitting one group of oppressed people against another group of oppressed people. The end game is economic. It is counterproductive to fall into the trap of arguing over scraps as we live through the most prosperous economy in modern history.

@ KEMELYEN - I feel compelled to note that claims of superiority most often fall from the mouths of those who are hiding from their own fears of inadequacy. In other words, people who lie even to *themselves*. The deeper and more intense the self-delusional denial, the more vehemently the particular belief is pushed. It's true of claims of racial superiority, and it's true of all other claims of superiority. - At the same time, I agree completely with you that the better description is "white nationalism", which does not reinforce the nonsensical notion of "superiority" or "supremacy". - You are spot-on that the end-game is economic. The plutocracy ((which , as I've noted elsewhere includes those who run the six multinational corporations which own 95% or the media)) uses part of its vast wealth to keep the rest of us too busy bickering to look closely ((or at all, in most cases...)) to see exactly what they are doing. - It's not a matter of "The NWO"; "order" has nothing to do with it. If the relentlessly, insatiably greedy do end up accumulating all of the globe's material wealth, they'll then fall upon one another to fight over who gets it all. That's how sociopaths and narcissists *are*. No matter how much they have, they always whine and wail that they "need more"; and when they have everything, it still can never be enough, because they are biologically incapable of feeling anything, which includes feeling happy with what they've got. - So it is completely self-defeating, and self-destructive, to continually give way to the demands which lead to even-more-extreme concentrations of wealth in the hands of those who cannot be satiated - or placated. - - The fundamental shortcoming of classic liberals is that it's based upon a belief that all of the human species is "inherently good unless taught otherwise". The complexity of the human brain, and the potential for structural anomalies, including those which make some people incapable of feeling empathy, or any other emotion, is such that it proves a belief in universal inherent "goodness" to be at best naive, and at worst, just plain destructive to *all* living things. - What is needed, is to retain a dedication to justice, equal rights, and equal opportunity, while also maintaining both the realization that some people *are* born damaged, and the wisdom to not be lulled by pretty words, or false claims of injustice, used by those whose only interest is in personally acquiring ever-more wealth and power. - That sort of balance would, IMO, be *truly* revolutionary ;)

Funny thing though you only post about Jessica Chambers so you really don't give a shit about little babies being raped by white guys. Your silence is deafening. Just admit you're a sick fuck. You excuse any and every crime committed by whites you only poat about negro crime. You are a racist sick fuck who never served and has no problem with baby rape.

Anyone registered to vote in Ohio, please sign the anti-gerrymandering petition (Fair Districts=Fair Elections). This is one little piece of participatory democracy that can make a big difference with almost no effort on any individual's part.

Many people didn't vote because they felt they didn't have anyone to vote for and I was one. I'll probably never vote again It took me 40 years to vote the first time. I'm just going to wait for America to become white again.

- OH, addendum - I think that the Spanish brought African slaves to the Americas around 1500. - So, Nope, never "white". Never any sort of "white homeland". Caucasians - well, specifically, WASPs - were in POWER, but that's a completely different thing.

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